Tuesday 7th October 2025
For immediate release
One Family welcomes the announcement of some evidence-based, targeted measures in Budget 2026, but highlights missed opportunities from government to deliver all actions needed to tackle child poverty and family homelessness.
Strategic increases to the Child Support Payment and expansion of Fuel Allowance to those in receipt of the Working Family Payment are very welcome measures. One Family, and parents we work with, called for these in our Pre-Budget Submission to government and they are evidence-based, targeted measures which will help families who are struggling. It is also welcome that Back to School Allowance has been extended to children aged 2-3.
However, government missed key opportunities to deliver more of the targeted measures needed to tackle child poverty and family homelessness:
- Social protection increase of €10 is not enough to keep payments in line with inflation and means social protection payments are failing to protect all those who need them from poverty.
- No immediate changes to childcare subsidies or improved accessibility for one-parent families
- No increase in the amount of the Back to School Clothing & Footwear Allowance and unclear if there are changes to income disregards for One Parent Family Payment and Jobseekers’ Transitional Payment, which is out of step with inflationary and minimum wage increases
- Lack of specific detail on changes to Housing Assistance Payment and Tenant-In-Situ scheme to prevent further family homelessness
- Shocking lack of focus on preventing family homelessness in budget speeches, despite record levels of children and lone parents living in emergency and homeless accommodation
Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family:
“There are some positive measures in Budget 2026 for families, but government missed several opportunities to deliver more of the targeted measures needed to tackle child poverty and family homelessness. Increasing the Child Support Payment and expanding the Fuel Allowance for low-income working parents are critical, necessary steps towards the Government’s child poverty target and we welcome that government listened to One Family and the parents who came forward to speak on this issue.
“However, the failure to increase other targeted payments, such as the Back to School Clothing & Footwear Allowance or the income disregards to One Parent Family Payment and Jobseekers’ Transitional Payment is extremely disappointing. Doing so would’ve helped the one-parent families most impacted by cost-of-living crisis, in a targeted way, and the while the Child Support Payment and Fuel Allowance expansion are extremely welcome, further targeting was needed to tackle the poverty and deprivation that many one-parent families are experiencing.”
Carly Bailey, Policy Manager of One Family:
“The lack of immediate action on childcare is really disappointing and will have a significant impact on one-parent families. It’s unclear how government intends to increase spaces when services are pulling out of core funding, waiting lists are rampant across the country and fees remain unaffordable for many parents.
This budget also fails to deliver meaningful, immediate measures to address record rates of family homelessness, which is a one-parent family crisis; nearly 60% of families in emergency accommodation are one-parent families. The Tenant-In-Situ scheme is a critical anti-homelessness measure that, had it been expanded/sufficiently funded, would prevent more families from entering homelessness. Failure to increase Housing Assistance Payments in line with market rents will also further drive homelessness, particularly one-parent families who are disproportionately reliant on HAP due to the unaffordability of rent. The crisis of family homelessness is not new at this point, yet we’re still waiting on budget to be allocated to develop a Family Homelessness Strategy to tackle the crisis. One Family are deeply concerned that the inaction of Budget 2026 will further drive the month-on-month increases of family homelessness.”
ENDS
For more information, please contact Vicky Masterson, One Family Communications Manager on 083 447 0645 / vmasterson@onefamily.ie
Notes to Editor:
- One Family Ireland was founded in 1972 as Cherish and is Ireland’s national organisation for one-parent families and people sharing parenting or separating, offering support, information and services to all members of all one-parent families, to those sharing parenting, to those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and to professionals working with one-parent families. Children are at the centre of One Family’s work and the organisation helps all the adults in their lives, including mums, dads, grandparents, step-parents, new partners and other siblings, offering a holistic model of specialist family support services. These services include the askonefamily national helpline on 0818 66 22 12, counselling, and provision of training courses for parents and for professionals. For further information, visit www.onefamily.ie.
- One Family’s full Budget Submission can be accessed here: https://onefamily.ie/wp-content/uploads/Budget-Submission-2026.pdf
.